Thursday, 10 August 2017

The Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training Mduduzi Manana was accused of
assaulting three women‚ he has finally appeared in court and has been granted
bail of R5‚000.

Manana‚ 33‚
clad in a tailored navy blue suit‚ white shirt and brown shoes‚ briefly
appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s court on Thursday on two charges of
assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

State
prosecutor Yusuf Baba told magistrate Liesel Davids that Manana was in custody
while he requested permission from the court to allow the media in. However‚
Michael Motsoeneng Bill‚ appearing for Manana‚ opposed the request that media
be allowed to film the proceedings.

On Sunday
morning‚ the deputy minister lost his cool after an argument on who should
succeed President Jacob Zuma at the party's elective conference in December.

But what
allegedly triggered him to attack the women was when one of them made a comment
about his sexuality‚ labelling him gay.

One the
victims‚ Mandisa Duma‚ opened a case of assault with intention to cause
grievous bodily harm at the Douglasdale Police station on the very same day.

She claimed
that she was with Manana and his friends inside the Cubana restaurant when
Manana chased them out of the venue.

Duma‚ who
sustained a black eye‚ bruised knees and a swollen face and neck‚ further
claimed that while walking out‚ Manana slapped her cousin across the face after
the comment about his sexuality before turning on her in the parking lot.

In a video that
went viral‚ the deputy minister can be seen wearing a black t-shirt and a black
and white cap.

Three men can
be seen dragging one of the women down as she tries to get up while bouncers
can be seen standing by and not intervening in the 14-second video clip. The
woman can be heard asking the men four times "What are you doing?"
before the video cuts.

Manana has
since admitted and apologised for the incident. He will appear
again in court on September 13. times